iPhone App Pinpoints Customer Location in Apple Stores

A new app allows Apple to track customers when they enter an Apple Store, with the idea being to cut down on queuing time and make the shopping experience more convenient; though customers have been slow to take it up so far.

Apple's new alert system is based on an app that can be installed on your iPhone. Once the Apple Store app is active on the phone, the customer can use the iPhone to purchase any Apple product, even before stepping into the store.

When the user goes to pick up the product he or she has ordered, the integrated location feature of the app tells the Apple Store employees on their iPod Touch where the customer is, and they can then take their item to them or deal with any other request they might have.

According to The New York Times, there has not been much enthusiasm for this new app yet, though 16 customers apparently downloaded it and used it to avoid queuing on Black Friday.

CNN Money reported last week that shopping malls are experimenting with similar technology by tracking customers' movements using the unique ID numbers of their phones, this has given rise to a number of people complaining that this is a breach of privacy.